SRI AUROBINDO AND SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
By Sri Goutam Dharmapal
On 6th February 1893 a young twenty-year old man with dark complexion and delicate health, Mr. Aravinda Acroyd Ghose landed at Bombay. He was returning to his Motherland from which he was deported at a very young age of seven to grow into a full fledged Englishman, of course to return to India and serve his motherland under the British Raj. During his long stay of thirteen years in England he grew into a great scholar and a poet, but frustrated his father by not passing his I.C.S. Exams by willfully not appearing at the riding examination. During the period he had already become a patriot and dreaming to free his motherland from the shackles of slavery. He was carrying in his pocket an appointment letter to work as the Secretary of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwar of Baroda.
On 31st May 1893 another young man of bright complexion strongly built thirty year old Swami Vivekananda embarked on S.S. Peninsular from the same port of Bombay. He was going for the first time to the West, to Chicago, U.S.A. to attend the Parliament of Religions as a representative of Sanatana Hindu Religion (which he later called the Vedic or Vedant Religion). He was almost an unknown sannyasin on the ship (known of course to a few friends in India—rich as well as poor) going to an unknown country equipped only with his great knowledge of Western and Eastern Philosophy and of course with the direct blessings of his Master Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Mother Shardadevi—both of whom were still unknown in other parts of India apart from greater Bengal. On his return to India in January 1897 he was the most famous patriot Hindu Monk of Mother India—having successfully preached Hinduism in the West, both in U.S.A. and England, getting many western disciples. After his return to India, he again toured North and South of India receiving great ovations everywhere and at the same time giving fiery lectures rousing the sleeping mass of India, enlightening the heart of the young wherever he went. Gathering together the followers and disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, he established the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, established its Headquarters at the Western bank of the Ganga at Belur in Howrah just opposite to the Daskhineswar Temple where Sri Ramakrishna lived and not only because a Siddha in almost all the spiritual sadhanas of Hinduism but also practised the basic truths of all other religions—including Christianity and Islam—the two great modern missionary religions and realized that fundamentally all the religions teach the same divine Truths irrespective of their different preachers and preachings.
During his short life of little less than forty years Swami Vivekananda tried to implant all these Truths amongst all as well as serving the poor and downtrodden masses of his motherland through education and healthcare by all the means at his command. He suddenly passed away on 4th July 1902.
During all this time Aurobindo Ghosh was working with the Maharaja of Baroda first as a probationer in the Settlement and Revenue Department and some secretarial work of the Maharaja and later at his own request as Professor of English at the Baroda College where he was elevated to the post of Vice Principal. He was passing the rest of his time in deeply diving in the ancient and mediavel Sanskrit literature. He was also learning his mother-tongue Bangla of which practically he had no knowledge before he returned to India in 1893. And of course he was greatly nvolved in writing strong patriotic essays, as well as writing poetry which he had started writing since he was a boy of 14. In later times when he was asked what he would like to call himself, he emphatically said “A Poet and a Patriot!” Of course during this period at Baroda he had already started to work for the secret revolutionary societies—his two main associates in this field being his younger brother Barin Ghosh and Jatindranath Bandopadhyay whom he had got admitted in the army of the Baroda State—the first Bengali perhaps to take up an army post under the British Rule!
By April 1901 he had married a young Hindu girl, Mrinalini Devi, daughter of Bhupal Chandra Bose, after advertising in the newspapers.
But till now there were no signs of the future spiritual or yogic sadhana. May be he had started to practice some yogasanas—but that too mainly to get physical strength—which he felt very necessary for his future work of freeing the Motherland—he having a very delicate health from the young age just the opposite of Narendranath Dutta—future Swami Vivekananda.
Aurobindo Ghosh came out in open public political life only after 1905 when Lord Curzon divided the great Bangla Nation which included most parts of present Bihar and Orissa in the East and spread out in the West upto Burma (now Myanmar) and Assam. He left Baroda for good in 1906 and joined the New Nationalist Party of Indian National Congress led by prominent leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak of Maharashtra, Lala Lajpat Rai of Punjab and Bipin Chandra Pal of Bengal and others which professed a programme of complete Non-Cooperation with the British Government and Boycott of British and foreign goods and the fostering of Swadeshi, Boycott of British Law Courts, Boycott of Government Universities and Colleges and establishing of National Colleges and Schools along with a policy of Passive Resistance in all fields of life. Of course though the movement was started vehemently, it did not last long at the time for the country was not yet ripe enough for such a bold programme which was successfully led later by Mahatma Gandhi from 1920 onwards. But that is another story.
At first Sri Aurobindo came over to Calcutta and joined the newly founded Bengal National College as the Principal, but a little later left it due to difference of opinion with the Committee Members and took up the work of editing Bande Mataram founded by Bipin Chandra Pal and Mallick Brothers in January 1907.
In 1907, Sri Aurobindo was arrested and prosecuted for sedition but acquitted—the time when Rabindranath Tagore greeted him with his famous poem—“Aravindo Rabindrer Laho Namaskar!” But this brought out Sri Aurobindo in open politics and to lead the Bengal Nationalist Party, to appear on public platform for the first time as a speaker too.
But during all this time his yoga practice was going on which he had begun since 1904 onwards with Pranayama as his main sadhana. He used to do Pranayama for 6 hours daily till he discontinued it after he fell seriously ill in 1907. The only outward help he received during this period of yoga practices was from one Maharastrian Vaishnava Yogi—Vishnu Bhaskar Lele from whom alone he had taken any formal Diksha or Mantra and practiced meditation. But practically speaking during all this time Arvinda Ghosh took no interest in philosophy as such or in the Ramakrishna Mission Movement which was slowly spreading all over India after the passing away of Swami Vivekananda. He was interested in the Sayings of Ramakrishna and the speeches of Swami Vivekananda but that was almost all with regards to spiritual life as such. He considered their teachings to be a retreat from life in spite of their talking about service to the poor and the downtrodden. [Just like Bandhu Dharmapal (Babubhai Shah) who did not even want to read the complete works of Swami Vivekananda in late nineteen thirties when they were widely available because Swami Vivekananda was a Sannyasin-advocate of total renunciation from mundane life.]
The total dedication to yoga and spiritual life developed in Aurobindo Ghosh only during his Jail life from May 1908 to May 1909—after his conscious spiritual experiences—and matured only after going to Pondicherry after receiving the inner command.
The main points of Swami Vivekananda’s ideals and objects of life in this world can be summed up in his own words as under:—
Each soul is potentially divine. The Goal is to manifest the Divinity within by controlling Nature, external and internal.
Do this either by Work or Worship or psychic control or Philosophy—i.e. through Karmayoga, Bhaktiyoga, Raja-yoga or Jnanayoga. This can be done by practicing one or more or all of these—and Be Free. Mukti—Freedom from life is the main object of life.
For Swamiji life is either a dream or an illusion—Maya. To come out of this Ignorance and be established in Knowledge till the end—death comes and then to enter into Nirvana of the Eternal or Freedom—Moksha is the goal of this life.
Whereas the main principles of Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga are—
1. To open one’s self to a greater divine consciousness through faith—sraddha and Aspiration—Abhipsā.
2. To rise to this power of Light, Truth and Bliss through constant and continuous Surrender—Samarpana.
3. To discover one’s True Self and remain in conscious and constant union with the Divine.
4. To bring down the higher Supramental force in the whole being—Physical, Vital and Mental and transform one’s self into the Divine Being—in Truth and Harmony—Satyam-Ritam or Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram as well as Anandam—Truth, Beauty, Goodness and Bliss and thereby help in establishing Life Divine on this Earth.
For Sri Aurobindo, this Life on Earth is neither a chimera nor an illusion nor a dream but a field for evolving Life Divine—an evolutionary process is going on from Inconscience to Divinity through Matter, Life and Mind—from physical mind to Supermind!
Thus Freedom, Liberation—Moksha or Emancipation or Extinction—Nirvana is not the goal of this life but transforming this life into Life Divine is the main goal of life for Sri Aurobindo.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA MISSION AND SRI AUROBINDO
By Goutam Dharmapal
Let me begin with Sri Aurobindo’s letter to Sri Motilal Roy from Pondicherry after 15th August 1912:
“What you say about the Ramakrishna Mission is, I dare say, true to a certain extent. Do not oppose that movement or enter into any conflict with it. Whatever has to be done, I shall do spiritually, for God in these matters especially uses the spiritual means & the material are only very subordinate. Of course you can get into that stream, as you suggest, and deflect as much as you can into a more powerful channel, but not so as to seem to be conflicting with it. Use spiritual means chiefly, will & vyapti. They are more powerful than speech & discussion. Remember also that we derive from Ramakrishna. For myself, it was Ramakrishna who personally came & first turned me to this Yoga. Vivekananda in the Alipore jail gave me the foundations of that Knowledge which is the basis of our sadhana.”
According to records Sri Ramakrishna first came to Sri Aurobindo during a planchette session in 1907 and instructed him ‘to build a Temple to the Mother’ and as if took charge of Sri Aurobindo’s new Yoga-Sadhana. It must be Sri Ramakrishna who sent Swami Vivekananda to Aurobindo Ghosh in Alipore Jail to instruct him about the various stages of consciousness etc. See, Uttarpara Speech of Sri Aurobindo. Sri Ramakrishna again appeared to Sri Aurobindo at Pondicherry in 1912 and again in 1913 for the last time, saying he will not come to him (Sri Aurobindo) anymore!
Of course all along, Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual life was guided and controlled by Sri Krishna. The only guru or guide in Sri Aurobindo’s yoga on the physical mundane level was the Vaishnava Yogi Vishnu Bhaskar Lele who gave him the mantra and guided him in his meditation in 1908 after Sri Ramakrishna came to Sri Aurobindo. After Sri Ramakrishna’s last visit to Sri Aurobindo, came to Pondicherry a remarkable Frenchman and his wife, Paul Richard and she who is now known as Sri Mira Devi. They had been in search for years of a Master in whom they could recognise a World-Teacher! After her second and final coming to Pondicherry in April 1920, Mira Devi slowly became the Mother of the Ashram, taking complete charge of Sri Aurobindo Ashram after 24th November 1926 when Krishna Consciousness descended in the physical consciousness of Sri Aurobindo and he retired to silent life for intensive yoga for the descent of Supermind.
Sri Aurobindo continues in his letter to Motilal Roy, “The error of the Mission is to keep too much to the forms of Ramakrishna & Vivekananda & not keep themselves open for new outpouring of their spirits—the error of all “Churches” and organised religious bodies. I do not think they will escape from it so long as their “Holy Mother” is with them. She represents now the Shakti of Ramakrishna so far as it was manifested in his life. When I say do not enter into conflict with them, I really mean “do not enter into conflict with her”. Let her fulfil her mission, keeping always ours intact and ever increasing.” Page 179, Vol 36, Complete Works, Autobiographical Notes.
The situation did not change even after the passing away of Sri Sharada Ma in July 1920—a few months after Mother Mira returned to Pondicherry on the final call of Sri Aurobindo after the passing away of Mrinalinidevi, wife of Sri Aurobindo in 1918 at Calcutta. Sri Aurobindo had called her to come to Pondicherry and be of help in his yoga. Sri Ramakrishna Mission Movement simply spread more and more in different parts of India and in the West. As the movement was led by the Sannyasins of the Ramakrishna Order, Ashrams with exclusive temples with idols or pictures of Sri Ramakrishna, Sharada Ma and Swami Vivekananda – the Trinity were established, Puja and worship were conducted proclaiming Sri Ramakrishna as an Avatara—‘avatar-varisthay’—best of avataras—of this age. Sri Aurobindo himself acknowledged him as such an Avatara—Incarnation of God—in one of his writings in Bande Mataram.
In Pondicherry after the return of Miradevi from Japan in April 1920, The ‘Arya’ monthly which Sri Aurobindo had started publishing since 1914 was discontinued. During this period Sri Aurobindo had published most of his major philosophical and yoga works. After going into total seclusion from November 1926, Sri Aurobindo intensified his Sadhana of bringing down the Supramental Consciousness to the physical level. Apart from giving Darshan to the devotees four times in a year, he kept in touch with the disciples only through correspondence—personally meeting only a few persons in between. Mother Mira took the charge of the Ashram. Everybody had to approach Sri Aurobindo through the Mother. She was the Shakti to whom all had to surrender. He said, ‘Surrender to her is surrender to me as well—as We are One as Shiva & Shakti.’
By 1950, Sri Aurobindo saw that the time had come for his entering into the Inconscient to transform it, otherwise no progress can be possible. So in spite of Mother’s remonstrations, he left his body on 5th December 1950. When he left the body, his physical body remained illumined by Supramental Light for five days—bright enough for all to see.
Mother Mira continued like Sharda Ma for the next twenty-three years to fulfil the promise of Sri Aurobindo for the Descent of the Supermind in the Earth Consciousness. It is said, Supermind descended to the Earth in February 1956 but again receded as the people round about were not yet ready to receive It. Mother herself left her body on November 17, 1973 struggling very hard to transform the cells of her physical body.
But what is the situation now? Where do we stand? Are we not clinging to the Forms of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother? Is not Sri Aurobindo’s Movement too turning into a ‘church’? That is the question we have to ask ourselves. Each of us have to dive deep in Sadhana, to realize the Divine Self—ātmā—within our own selves first and foremost and realize the Divine everywhere, continuing with the process of purifying and transforming our total Being—physical, vital and mental.
Let us not be turned into an exclusive ‘church’ like the Ramakrishna Mission Movement. We should be inclusive of all, especially Sri Ramakrishna as we directly derive from him. There is not at all the question of conflict and opposition. It is rather the matter of amalgamation—not necessarily—institutionally—rather in spirit of Brotherhood.
A POEM BY GOUTAM DHARMAPAL
ANIMALS = MAN + AILS
We are all ANIMALS
Bring out MAN from them
Leave all AILS behind
And find the MAN
MAN of the MIND
Maner Manush.
That is HE
HE is THAT
THAT Are YOU – Thou art That
Tat Tvam Asi - That Thou Art – (Kala, part one sixteenth part of the moons disc!)
I too am THAT
THAT is BRAHMA
I am Brahma
Aham brahmaasmi
THAT I AM
SO(A)HAM asmi
That is Real Man
MAN That Is GOD
